Recently the ability to remotely control lights from a smartphone has increased in popularity, however doing so by yourself from an iPhone can prove difficult - until now. Thanks to Simo Alaranta's iPhone app, you can send commands to an Ethernet-enabled Arduino compatible on a local area network - and thus control RGB LEDs or strips very easily.

The app sends serial text commands via customised URL requests, which are detected by the Arduino and processed to control the LEDs. It's a neat solution to a simple problem, and the controller app is in the iTunes app store for free.

When putting together your next Internet-enabled Arduino project - save time, space and money with the Freetronics EtherTen. Apart from being fully Arduino Uno-compatible, it has onboard Ethernet, microSD socket, full USB interface (so you don't need a costly FTDI cable just to upload a sketch!) and supports optional Power-over-Ethernet.